Self-Replicating Management Services for Distributed Computing Architectures

ABSTRACT

Self-replicating management services for distributed computing architectures are provided herein. An example method includes providing one or more nodes providing services; and maintaining a quorum of a plurality of management servers by: providing a distributed coordination service for the one or more nodes on each of the plurality of management servers; managing, via a director, requests for data on the distributed coordination service from the one or more nodes; promoting at least one of the one or more nodes to being one of the plurality of management servers; and maintaining secure tunnels between the plurality of management servers and the one or more nodes.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of, and claims prioritybenefit of, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/907,011, filed Feb. 27,2018, entitled “Self-Replicating Management Services for DistributedComputing Architectures,” which is hereby incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety including all references and appendices citedtherein.

FIELD OF THE PRESENT TECHNOLOGY

The present technology relates generally to distributed computing, andmore specifically, but not by limitation, to self-replicating managementservices for distributed computing architectures. In some instances,these management services can self-replicate from nodes operating in thecomputing architecture in order to maintain redundancy and dataintegrity.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present technology include a systemcomprising: one or more nodes providing services; and a plurality ofmanagement servers, each of the plurality of management serverscomprising: at least a distributed coordination service for the one ormore nodes, the distributed coordination service being a datastore; anda director that manages the distributed coordination service, whereinthe director is configured to: manage requests for data of thedistributed coordination service from one or more nodes; and promote atleast one or more nodes to being one of the plurality of managementservers, wherein promoting comprises replicating the distributedcoordination service thereon.

In some embodiments, the coordination service incorporates a datastore,and the director is a sidecar to the coordination service and managesaspects of the coordination service such as lifecycle.

Various embodiments of the present technology include a methodcomprising: providing one or more nodes providing services; andmaintaining a quorum of a plurality of management servers by: providingat least a distributed coordination service for the one or more nodes(where the distributed coordination service is a datastore) on each ofthe plurality of management servers; managing, via a director, requestsfor data on the distributed coordination service from the one or morenodes; and promoting at least one of the one or more nodes to being oneof the plurality of management servers, wherein promoting comprisesreplicating the distributed coordination service thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Certain embodiments of the present technology are illustrated by theaccompanying figures. It will be understood that the figures are notnecessarily to scale and that details not necessary for an understandingof the technology or that render other details difficult to perceive maybe omitted. It will be understood that the technology is not necessarilylimited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein.

FIG. 1 is a high level schematic diagram of computing architecture forpracticing aspects of the present technology.

FIG. 2 illustrates a self-replicating, node promotion process within adistributed computing architecture.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in theform of a computer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure is directed to various embodiments of systems andmethods that comprise self-replicating management services fordistributed computing architectures. In some instances, these managementservices can self-replicate using nodes operating in the computingarchitecture in order to maintain redundancy and data integrity.

Prior to additional discussion, some definitions are provided forcontext. A datastore as referred to herein is a distributed coordinationservice that acts as a datastore. The datastore in the coordinationservice is what is used to configure and govern other services. Itsability for its management to be automated and its resiliency in theface of failures is what makes a datastore useful as a coordinationservice. ZooKeeper, as used herein is an example of a coordinationservice, and specifically Apache ZooKeeper™. The present disclosureprovides a director that manages a coordination service, such asZooKeeper™. Stunnel is a particular product used to establishcryptographic tunnels (e.g., encryption infrastructure). A cryptographictunnel is useful when the product that needs securing either has no orpoor support for cryptographic features.

Operations performed by a director/client forwarder of the presentdisclosure happen to be interacting with stunnel, but a “tunnel” productis not required or necessary if the underlying system possessesacceptable cryptographic support.

Ports (e.g., client ports) as referred to herein, specifically such as aclient port that is a feature of ZooKeeper™. The systems of the presentdisclosure adapt to ZooKeeper™ in this context. If a differentcoordination service (e.g., not ZooKeeper™) is utilized which has abetter separation of privileged users, separate ports may not berequired.

A Blueprinter is a distributed workload scheduler and schedulesworkloads based on roles that can be dynamically managed at runtime. Afunction of the Blueprinter in context of the director is to act as agatekeeper that verifies tokens, providing a means of automaticallyproviding credentials such as certificates, private keys andauthentication without human approval.

In some embodiments, a distributed computing architecture such as theElastic Cloud Enterprise™ is managed and implemented withself-replicating management services. Elastic Cloud Enterprise™ is adistributed computing architecture that is located on premises at acustomer site or hosted remotely.

In general, the self-replicating management services are mediated usingcomponents such as a self-replicating management services. Thecoordination service implements a database that stores data for thedistributed computing architecture. Operations and access to thecoordination service are mediated through a director. Theself-replicating nature of these systems is also facilitated through useof the director.

In some embodiments, the coordination service coordinates a state of thedistributed computing architecture and a state of all clusters (e.g.,nodes or allocators) executing within the distributed computingarchitecture. In some instances, a coordination service is managed byone or more directors.

In various embodiments, an instance of coordination service and directorrun on a management server (which could be physical or virtual). In oneor more embodiments, the management server can be self-replicatingthrough recruitment or promotion of nodes within the distributedcomputing architecture. According to some embodiments, the directorsensure that a quorum of management servers is available. In someembodiments a quorum is at least three management servers. In someembodiments a quorum is at least two out of three management servers.Other quorum and totals numbers of management servers are alsocontemplated.

The management servers are all synchronized and interconnected, in someembodiments. That is, the database (e.g., coordination service) isreplicated and each management server is connected to every othermanagement server in the architecture. In sum, the directors areinvolved in establishing a quorum when new coordination service nodesare created. New directors are also instantiated on the new nodes aswell.

In some embodiments, the directors can be configured to establish notonly a quorum of management servers, but the directors can also promoteand establish a pool of inactive but pre-configured management servers.Upon detection of a failure in one of the management servers currentlyin a quorum, the directors can automatically select from thesepre-configured management servers rather than having to wait until aquorum failure is detected in order to promote a new node. Failure torectify a lack of quorum in management servers leads to deleteriousdownstream effects such as data unavailability, which results in thenodes being unable to provide services to their end users.

In some embodiments, the directors sign CSRs (certificate signingrequests) for nodes that want to communicate with a coordinationservice. The directors also maintain the encryption infrastructure usedby coordination services for communication inside the architecture.These and other advantages of the present disclosure are providedherein.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example system that includes aplurality of management servers 101, such as management server 102 andone or more nodes such as node 104 (e.g., allocator). The managementserver 102 and node 104 are communicatively coupled over an encryptedinfrastructure (e.g., secure communications channel) 106 such as anS-Tunnel, for example. In general, administrators can access thefunctions of the management server 102 and end users can access servicesexecuting on the node 104.

In more detail, each of the management servers comprises a distributedcoordination service 108 (e.g., coordination service) and director 110,each of which are disclosed in greater detail with respect to FIG. 2.

Turning to FIG. 2, the management server 102 (of a plurality ofmanagement servers) is illustrated as comprising the distributedcoordination service 108 and the director 110. The distributedcoordination service 108 is implemented as a datastore, in someembodiments. The distributed coordination service 108 maintains the datanecessary to allow the node 104 to provide various services to endusers. For example, node 104 can provide one or more services to endusers such as a visualization tool, data shippers, data log pipeline,and so forth.

In general, the director 110 is configured to manage requests for dataon the datastore from the node 104 and promote one or more nodes (suchas node 104 for example) to being one of the plurality of managementservers. Generally speaking, promoting comprises replicating thedistributed coordination service 108 and the datastore thereon. A newdirector is also spun up on the node 104 during promotion.

For context, the director 110 is a sidecar to the distributedcoordination service 108 that performs several functions. In someinstances, the director 110 maintains a lifecycle of the distributedcoordination service 108. The director 110 can write distributedcoordination service 108 configuration files (as well as guaranteeuniqueness of the management server identifiers) and schedule amanagement server to start locally (if no nodes are available topromote). The director 110 can also handle promotion of a node fromobserver to participant once all the data in the distributedcoordination service of one management server is replicated to the nodeand has been guaranteed to be synchronized from the existing ensemble ofmanagement servers.

The director 110 also maintains an encryption infrastructure (e.g.,secure communications channel) configurations for distributedcoordination service 108 server ports (inbound and outbound, referred toas a management interface), and client ports (all discussed in moredetail below), using a server-specific and a client-specific schema.This provides transparent (from the distributed coordination service ofview) encryption of traffic between the management servers.

In FIG. 2, an initial set of management servers in a quorum 112 ispresent. The director 110 of management server 102 begins a process ofpromoting the node 104. This can occur when the node 104 requests accessto the distributed coordination service 108. For example, in order toexecute a service 114 of the node 104, the node 104 requests data fromthe distributed coordination service 108. In some embodiments, this iseffectuated by the node 104 connecting to a node port 116 on themanagement server 102. Initially, the node 104 is a non-trustedserver/entity.

When the node 104 requests access to the distributed coordinationservice 108, the node 104 will provide the director with a CSR request.If approved, the director 110 will sign the CSR request and set up theencryption infrastructure 106 between the management server 102 and thenode 104 on a node interface 111 of the management server 102. The node104 is now trusted and can be allowed to request data from thedistributed coordination service 108. In some embodiments allconnections between management servers and nodes include encryptioninfrastructure, as well as connections between management servers andother management servers.

If the director 110 determines that a new management server is required,the director 110 can initiate a process of promoting the node 104 tomanagement server status. This preemptive promotion can be based on thefact that a quorum of management servers is present, but that loss ofone of these management servers would result in a quorum failure. Forexample, management servers 102, 122, and 124 are present and form thequorum 112. Again, while not illustrated for purposes of clarity, eachof the management servers 102, 122, and 124 are interconnected to oneanother. These management servers 102, 122, and 124 are connected on adedicated management interface 128 that allows unrestricted access tothe underlying datastore (e.g., coordination service). Thus, while thenode facing ports provide only limited access to data, the dedicatedmanagement interface provides complete access to the data on thecoordination service.

In addition to interconnection between instances of distributedcoordination services on different management servers through theirrespective dedicated management interfaces, the director of eachmanagement server is coupled with the directors and distributedcoordination services of all other management servers in the quorum.

Due to the fact that three management servers are needed for a quorum(in some embodiments fewer or more), the director of the managementserver 102 automatically initiates promotion of node 104 to managementstatus. In other words, three management servers are desired so as toallow for surviving the failure of one management server.

The selection of node 104 is undertaken because node 104 is already atrusted node. Thus, the automatic promotion of nodes can be based onthreshold criteria related to the quorum. It will also be understoodthat any of the management servers is capable of automatically promotinga node, although directors on the various management servers cancoordinate so as to not promote additional management servers if anotherdirector has already initiated a promotion process. An expanded quorum126 is illustrated in FIG. 2, as now including node 104.

The node 104 now includes a distributed coordination service 130 and adirector 132. In some embodiments, the director 110 of the managementserver 102 writes distributed coordination service configuration filesonto the node 104 in such a way that a uniqueness of an identificationof the distributed coordination service is maintained. Thus, thedistributed coordination service of the management server 102 isreplicated onto the node 104. The director 110 of the management server102 can also verify that replication of the distributed coordinationservice on the node 104 has resulted in synchronization with thedistributed coordination service of each of the plurality of managementservers in the quorum.

Once the node 104 is promoted to the management server status, the node104 is capable, through its director 132, of promoting other nodes ifneeded.

In one or more embodiments, a director can facilitate promotion of anode by issuing certificates node that desires to connect to any of theplurality of management servers and granting access to certificatebearing nodes on the one or more client ports.

In some embodiments, the director can implement a blueprinter functionthat assigns nodes in the cloud the management servers based on a roleassociated with the one or more nodes. That is, a particular managementserver can be dedicated to service a specific type of node/client. Themanagement server is thus assigned this type or role. Nodes requiringdata from the management server can be assigned based on a role.

The blueprinter, acting as a workload scheduler in a distributed system,can also dynamically reassign a node to a different management serverwhen the role of the node changes or a role of a currently assignedmanagement server is changed. For example, if a node is performing avisualization role, the management server is associated with avisualization role.

In some embodiments, the blueprinter is configured to ensure thatautomatically assigned management server relationships do not conflictwith manually assigned management server relationships, for example, ifan administrator has manually set up a relationship between a node ornodes and a management server or management servers.

In sum, given a set of containers associated with a role, theblueprinter ensures these containers are assigned to servers based onthe roles the servers have. The container assignments are updateddynamically if either the role definitions change or the roles of serverchange. The roles associated with a server can be authenticated eitherthrough an administrator explicitly validating the server for the rolesor through a token-based system where the server supplies a token thatthe blueprinter can cryptographically verify as valid and untampered. Itwill be understood that care is taken to ensure that the automaticallyassigned containers management do not conflict with manually assignedcontainers in such a way that a manually assigned container will not beremoved from a server as part of the blueprinter operations.

Additional enhancements to the processes described above are alsodisclosed. For example, when a client forwarder 118 implemented on themanagement server 102 to cooperate with the director 110 to forward aknown set of local ports (e.g., node or client ports) and transparentlyhandle encryption of traffic and automatically update the forwardedports to new management servers when any of the directors of themanagement servers in a quorum are unavailable.

In various embodiments, the client forwarder 118 is configured tocooperate with the director 110 and forward a known set of local portson each server in an installation to potentially remote distributedcoordination service APIs, transparently handle encryption over thenetwork, and automatically update forwarded ports when directors areadded/removed from an installation.

Another advantage includes the use of tokens for security and rapidintegration of new servers. For example, the replication process ofcreating a new node and promoting the node to management server statuscan be optimized through use of a token. For example, if a node needs tobe terminated, the end user of the node can request a token thatincludes the configurations of that particular node, which includetrusted status or permissions for that node. When a new node is created,the node can be provisioned with the token. The new node can present thetoken to a director of a currently existing management node in order toautomate the certificate exchange processes and trust verification stepsdisclosed above.

Also, the token can identify the new node as a management node. That is,the prior role of the node was a management server. These configurationsare set forth in the token such that when the new node can present thetoken to a director of a currently existing management node and bepromoted without having to complete the certificate exchange processesand trust verification steps. In some embodiments, the certificate isstill issued and the token is used to automate the certificateprovisioning without having to await approval.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method that is executed inaccordance with the present disclosure. The method includes a step 302of providing one or more nodes providing services. For example, thenetwork includes one or more nodes that provide services such as datavisualization, data transfer, and data logging to end users. Thesenode(s) are maintained by management servers in the architecture. Thus,the method also includes a step 304 of maintaining a quorum of aplurality of management servers serving the nodes. These managementservers mediate the flow of data within the architecture to the node(s).The management servers also function to promote nodes if needed toensure that a quorum of management servers is present.

The method can also include a step 306 of providing at least adistributed coordination service for the one or more nodes on each ofthe plurality of management servers. This distributed coordinationservice stores the data needed for the nodes to provide their respectiveservices to end users.

In some embodiments, the method includes a step 308 of managing, via adirector, requests for data on the coordination service from the one ormore nodes. This includes the director mediating interactions for datafrom nodes into the distributed coordination service, ensuring thataccess to the distributed coordination service is efficient and simple.

In one or more embodiments, the method includes a step 310 of promotingat least one of the one or more nodes to being one of the plurality ofmanagement servers. To be sure a promoting process comprises replicatingthe distributed coordination service (and its underlying datastore) inthe node being promoted. When the replication has been validated and thenewly promoted management server has been synchronized to all othermanagement nodes in the quorum, the node is considered to be part of thequorum.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in theform of a computer system 1, within which a set of instructions forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein may be executed. In various example embodiments, themachine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g.,networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine mayoperate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in aserver-client network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a portable music player(e.g., a portable hard drive audio device such as an Moving PictureExperts Group Audio Layer 3 (MP3) player), a web appliance, a networkrouter, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated,the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection ofmachines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets)of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The example computer system 1 includes a processor or multipleprocessor(s) 5 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), or both), and a main memory 10 and static memory15, which communicate with each other via a bus 20. The computer system1 may further include a video display 35 (e.g., a liquid crystal display(LCD)). The computer system 1 may also include input device(s) 30 (alsoreferred to as alpha-numeric input device(s), e.g., a keyboard), acursor control device (e.g., a mouse), a voice recognition or biometricverification unit (not shown), a drive unit 37 (also referred to as diskdrive unit), a signal generation device 40 (e.g., a speaker), and anetwork interface device 45. The computer system 1 may further include adata encryption module (not shown) to encrypt data.

The drive unit 37 includes a machine-readable medium 50 (which may be acomputer readable medium) on which is stored one or more sets ofinstructions and data structures (e.g., instructions 55) embodying orutilizing any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. The instructions 55 may also reside, completely or at leastpartially, within the main memory 10 and/or within the processor(s) 5during execution thereof by the computer system 1. The main memory 10and the processor(s) 5 may also constitute machine-readable media.

The instructions 55 may further be transmitted or received over anetwork (e.g., network 150 or network 520, see FIG. 1 and FIG. 4,respectively) via the network interface device 45 utilizing any one of anumber of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hyper Text TransferProtocol (HTTP)). While the machine-readable medium 50 is shown in anexample embodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readablemedium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media(e.g., a centralized or distributed database and/or associated cachesand servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying a set of instructionsfor execution by the machine and that causes the machine to perform anyone or more of the methodologies of the present application, or that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures utilized by orassociated with such a set of instructions. The term “computer-readablemedium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to,solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wavesignals. Such media may also include, without limitation, hard disks,floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital video disks, random accessmemory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), and the like. The exampleembodiments described herein may be implemented in an operatingenvironment comprising software installed on a computer, in hardware, orin a combination of software and hardware.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the Internet service may beconfigured to provide Internet access to one or more computing devicesthat are coupled to the Internet service, and that the computing devicesmay include one or more processors, buses, memory devices, displaydevices, input/output devices, and the like. Furthermore, those skilledin the art may appreciate that the Internet service may be coupled toone or more databases, repositories, servers, and the like, which may beutilized in order to implement any of the embodiments of the disclosureas described herein.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present technology has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the present technology in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the presenttechnology. Exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order tobest explain the principles of the present technology and its practicalapplication, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art tounderstand the present technology for various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Aspects of the present technology are described above with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thepresent technology. It will be understood that each block of theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can beimplemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present technology. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation and notlimitation, specific details are set forth, such as particularembodiments, procedures, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced inother embodiments that depart from these specific details.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, theappearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” or“according to one embodiment” (or other phrases having similar import)at various places throughout this specification are not necessarily allreferring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features,structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. Furthermore, depending on the context ofdiscussion herein, a singular term may include its plural forms and aplural term may include its singular form. Similarly, a hyphenated term(e.g., “on-demand”) may be occasionally interchangeably used with itsnon-hyphenated version (e.g., “on demand”), a capitalized entry (e.g.,“Software”) may be interchangeably used with its non-capitalized version(e.g., “software”), a plural term may be indicated with or without anapostrophe (e.g., PE's or PEs), and an italicized term (e.g., “N+1”) maybe interchangeably used with its non-italicized version (e.g., “N+1”).Such occasional interchangeable uses shall not be consideredinconsistent with each other.

Also, some embodiments may be described in terms of “means for”performing a task or set of tasks. It will be understood that a “meansfor” may be expressed herein in terms of a structure, such as aprocessor, a memory, an I/O device such as a camera, or combinationsthereof. Alternatively, the “means for” may include an algorithm that isdescriptive of a function or method step, while in yet other embodimentsthe “means for” is expressed in terms of a mathematical formula, prose,or as a flow chart or signal diagram.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

It is noted at the outset that the terms “coupled,” “connected”,“connecting,” “electrically connected,” etc., are used interchangeablyherein to generally refer to the condition of beingelectrically/electronically connected. Similarly, a first entity isconsidered to be in “communication” with a second entity (or entities)when the first entity electrically sends and/or receives (whetherthrough wireline or wireless means) information signals (whethercontaining data information or non-data/control information) to thesecond entity regardless of the type (analog or digital) of thosesignals. It is further noted that various figures (including componentdiagrams) shown and discussed herein are for illustrative purpose only,and are not drawn to scale.

While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the system aredescribed above for illustrative purposes, various equivalentmodifications are possible within the scope of the system, as thoseskilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, while processesor steps are presented in a given order, alternative embodiments mayperform routines having steps in a different order, and some processesor steps may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/ormodified to provide alternative or sub-combinations. Each of theseprocesses or steps may be implemented in a variety of different ways.Also, while processes or steps are at times shown as being performed inseries, these processes or steps may instead be performed in parallel,or may be performed at different times.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. The descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention to the particular forms set forth herein. To the contrary, thepresent descriptions are intended to cover such alternatives,modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and otherwiseappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the breadth andscope of a preferred embodiment should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: one or more nodes providingservices; and a plurality of management servers, each of the pluralityof management servers comprising: at least a distributed coordinationservice for the one or more nodes, the distributed coordination servicebeing a datastore; a director that manages the distributed coordinationservice, the director being configured to: manage requests for data ofthe distributed coordination service from the one or more nodes; promoteat least one of the one or more nodes to being one of the plurality ofmanagement servers; and maintain secure tunnels between the plurality ofmanagement servers and the one or more nodes.
 2. The system according toclaim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more nodes that waspromoted to being one of the plurality of management servers is alsoconfigured to promote at least one of the one or more nodes to being oneof the plurality of management servers.
 3. The system according to claim1, wherein a number of the one or more nodes promoted by the director isbased on a server quorum value.
 4. The system according to claim 1,wherein the director is further configured to write distributedcoordination service configuration files in such a way that a uniquenessof an identification of the distributed coordination service ismaintained.
 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the director isfurther configured to verify that replication of the distributedcoordination service on the at least one of the one or more nodes hasresulted in synchronization with the plurality of management servers. 6.The system according to claim 1, wherein the encryption infrastructureprovides transparent encryption of traffic.
 7. The system according toclaim 1, wherein the director is further configured to discover allother directors on the plurality of management servers.
 8. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the plurality of management servers eachcomprise a dedicated management interface providing unrestricted accessto the distributed coordination service.
 9. The system according toclaim 1, wherein the plurality of management servers each comprise oneor more client ports.
 10. The system according to claim 9, wherein thedirector is further configured to: issue certificates to any of the oneor more nodes that desire to connect to any of the plurality ofmanagement servers; and grant access to certificate bearing nodes on theone or more client ports.
 11. The system according to claim 1, whereineach of the plurality of management servers comprise a client forwarderthat cooperates with the director to forward a known set of local portsand transparently handle encryption of traffic and automatically updatethe forwarded ports when any of the directors of the plurality ofmanagement servers are unavailable.
 12. The system according to claim 1,wherein the director is further configured to implement a blueprinterthat assigns each of the one or more nodes to at least one of theplurality of management servers based on a role associated with the oneor more nodes.
 13. The system according to claim 11, wherein theblueprinter is further configured to dynamically reassign a node of theone or more nodes when the role changes or a role of a currentlyassigned management server is changed.
 14. The system according to claim13, wherein the role is defined using a token, wherein the blueprintercryptographically verifies that the token is valid and untampered. 15.The system according to claim 14, wherein the blueprinter is configuredto ensure that automatically assigned management server relationships donot conflict with manually assigned management server relationships. 16.A method, comprising: providing one or more nodes providing services;and maintaining a quorum of a plurality of management servers by:providing at least a distributed coordination service for the one ormore nodes on each of the plurality of management servers, thedistributed coordination service being a datastore; managing, via adirector, requests for data on the distributed coordination service fromthe one or more nodes; promoting at least one of the one or more nodesto being one of the plurality of management servers; and maintainingsecure tunnels between the plurality of management servers and the oneor more nodes.
 17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:receiving a request from at least one or more nodes providing servicesto connect with the distributed coordination service; and connecting theat least one or more nodes to the distributed coordination servicethrough a client forwarder.
 18. The method according to claim 17,wherein the at least one of the one or more nodes that is promoted isthe at least one or more nodes that has connected to the distributedcoordination service through the client forwarder.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 16, wherein promoting further comprises writingdistributed coordination service configuration files to the at least oneof the one or more nodes in such a way that a uniqueness of anidentification of the distributed coordination service is maintained.20. The method according to claim 16, wherein the secure tunnels providetransparent encryption of traffic.
 21. The method according to claim 16,wherein promoting comprises replicating the distributed coordinationservice.
 22. The method according to claim 16, wherein promotingcomprises starting a new director on the at least one or more nodes. 23.The method according to claim 16, wherein the director is furtherconfigured to discover all other directors on the plurality ofmanagement servers.
 24. The method according to claim 16, wherein theplurality of management servers each comprise a dedicated managementinterface providing unrestricted access to the distributed coordinationservice.
 25. The method according to claim 16, wherein the plurality ofmanagement servers each comprise one or more client ports.